Greenwood powers past Lake Hamilton
Greenwood 6-0 senior Camryn Presley and 6-6 junior Hannah Watkins were hard to stop as the Lady Bulldogs swept the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state volleyball tournament at Bank OZK Arena.
Greenwood (17-3) used strong service and a dominant front line to shut down Lake Hamilton (12-8), 3-0, to advance to today’s 1 p.m. semifinal against Jonesboro.
“It was rough in that manner of speaking, but my kids played their hearts out,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Karen Smith. “I was so proud of them. This whole tournament I’ve been proud of them.”
Despite entering the game with the top seed from the 5A West, Greenwood head coach Jennifer Golden said that she and her team do not take any game for granted.
“We don’t take anything for granted though,” she said. “I mean, it’s a game that has to be played, and you have to bring it every day. You know, we don’t step on the court thinking, it’s an automatic win. Other teams, they work just as hard as you and anything can happen in the playoffs.”
The Lady Bulldogs took an early 4-1 lead, stretching to a 9-3 lead with four straight service points from junior Madison Pugh. Presley added three more for a 13-4 lead after the Lady Wolves briefly stopped Greenwood’s advance, but Lake Hamilton never managed to string together points as the Lady Bulldogs took a 25-11 win of the opening set.
“We’ve got a strong lineup, I feel like, all the way across the board,” Golden said. “Sixteen [Presley] is definitely; she’s been playing for me since she was a freshman. She’s been on the court quite a bit; she’s got that leadership. Twenty-one [Watkins], of course, she’s 6-6. You don’t stop that. But the other kids, when I have the kids down, they step up, and that’s kind of what we do. We have a strong front row all the way across.”
Greenwood started the second set much like the first with a 5-1 lead, but Lake Hamilton junior Tia Mullenix served up three straight to pull within 8-7. Senior Jessalyn Heckel added five straight to give the Lady Wolves their first lead of the match, 14-12, before Greenwood junior Anna Johnson served 12 straight points for the 25-14 win.
Lake Hamilton failed to string together points again in the third set, but they kept the Lady Bulldogs from putting up more than three per service. Despite the inability to pick up several points in a single run, Greenwood did manage to take a 13-5 lead early in the set.
The Lady Wolves held on, pulling within 15-10 before Greenwood stretched back out to an eight-point lead. Trailing 24-14, Lake Hamilton broke service and Heckel put up one service point before Greenwood put the game away as Presley set up junior Caylee Ciesla for a cross-court kill to secure the 25-16 win.
“These kids played above my expectations, and I can’t be more proud,” Smith said. “I mean really, that’s the bottom line, and it took all of them to do it. Even the girls on the bench that weren’t on the floor, were telling them, encouraging them, talking about what they saw. I mean, it was a total team group effort, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls this year.”
Presley led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 kills, 10 digs and eight assists, and Watkins finished with 10 kills. Senior libero Izzy Davis finished with 24 digs, and junior setter Anna Johnson had 21 assists.
Heckel led the Lady Wolves with 10 assists, six kills and three aces. Sophomore Audri Wenfrey had five kills and a block, junior Risa Richens had four with a block, and senior Savannah
Brown had two kills, a block and an ace. Senior libero Hayzley Irwin finished with seven digs.
“That was one of our goals when it gets hard,” Smith concluded. “We had a rough season when it gets hard, you know, and that was one of our goals today, and I think that they, again, well past my expectations. You know, we stayed together all the way through to the end.”